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PRESIDENT TAPPAN'S 



MESSAGE TO THE lAW CONGEESS 

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Mn\\itxnxt]i ai Mxahiiwin 



Delivered January 18th> 1862. 



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^Y. D. WILTSIE, 

H. C. WHITE, ^ CoMMiTi-EE OF Publication^ 

X M. EDMUNDS. 



ANN ARBOR : 
CLARK, WILTSIE & Co., PRINTERS, 
^^ Courier & Herald'''' Office. 
1662. 



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MESSAGE, 



[Chancellor Tappax, D. D., L. L. D., acting as President of the United States 
the Moot Congress of the University of Micliigan, dolivered his Annual 
;ssage on Saturday, January 18th, 1862, the two Houses convening in joint 
jsion to receive it."] 



Qntlemen of the Senate and House of Rcjyresentatives : 
I revive to-day the custom of the early Presidents by deliver- 
g my message in person. For information respecting the con- 
tion of the country, I refer you to tke reports of the Secretaries 
the various departments. The difficulty with England, grow- 
g out of the Trent affair, has been happily adjusted. The ex- 
iuses of the Government, as will be seen by reference to the re- 
)rt of the Secretary of War, are very great; the report of th& 
;cretary of the Interior, however, shows a very high state o^ 
osperity. But we are not to forget that we are at wair>. fight . 
g for the supremacy of the Constitution and the Laws, and, 
r the rt-establishment of the Union ; great sacrifices are there-, 
re unavoidable. 

Since the commencement of the present war there has been 
uch ii-relevant discussion — much irrelevant talk, in which has, 
»peared abundance of irrelevant words and phrases. If inuo- 
nt, or, at least, of little account, at other times, and forming 
ily the subject of playful satire, it cannot be regarded in that 
^ht now, when this irrelevancy serves to distract attention 
om the main issue, to divide the people by political animoeiticSj 
id to paralyze effort by indecision. 



This irrelevant aiscnssion — these irrei'evant words anJ pfirases 
appear mainly on two subjects, namel j — The principles on which 
the Mar is to be carried on, and tlic disposition that h' to be 
made of the negroes, or the slave popafction. 

First, The principles on which tlie war is to be carried on. 

One party is very anxious to make it appear that thia is not a 
war of suljjugation, nor a war of emancipation, but a war for the- 
Constitution and the Union. The language used by this party 
is very apologetic in its tone, and goes to convey the idea that 
this war was a matter of deliberate choice on the side of the 
Government ani the Xorth; and that the choice to have war 
is justified by the fact that we are not conducting it for the pur- 
pose of subjugating the South, nor for the purpose of emanci- 
pating the slaves, but only for upholding the Constitution and 
the Union. Now, if the war was a matter of choice on our side 
and needs an apology, thifj certainly is a very good apology. 

Another party is very fearful that we will make it a war of 
emancipation, and thus alienate all the Union men, both in the 
loyal border States and in the rebel States, besides destroying- 
the Constitution, which guarantees the right of holding slaves 
to certain States. Nay, it :» even affirmed that to make this the 
principle or end of the war would have the effect of dissolving 
•our army, and, of course, yielding the field to the rebels at onee. 

A third party contends that the only true principle or enA of 
this war is emancipation, and that victory is hopeless vmk-^ we 
]>roclaim liberty to the slaves universally, either by act of Con- 
grcsa or by military proclamation. 

We may add to these still another party — the party of the 
rebels themselves, who call us " Lincolnites," "Abolitionists," 
one and all, "Vandal hordes," "Mercenaries," and so on, and 
declare our princi[)le and end to be all that any of us dread, or 
try to excuse ourselves from. 

Xow we think that our own discussions, our own storm of 
words about our principles and aims are just as irrelevant to the 
work we have in hand as the abuse of our enemies. 

The war has not been nor can be a matter of choice with us, 
and thorefora needs no apology or defense. The conspirators 



first secretly robbed the treasury, robbed the arsenals, and dis- 
persed and corrupted the army and navy as far as possible. Then 
they seized the forts, and took officers and privates who would not 
act with them, prisoners of war. Next they abolished the Consti- 
tution and established a nev/ government. Then a solitary fort 
which held out against them, they bombarded and captured. 
Then they marched armies to take the National Capital, and 
threatened Fhiladelphia, New York, and IJoston. They asked 
only "to be let alone," while their measni-cs threatened utter de- 
struction to the Government and to the North. lu such a state 
of things nothing remained to us but to light, unless we were 
willing to be dishonored and destroyetl. The same is more 
intensely tr-.e now than ever. Notliing remaijis to us noio but 
to fight, unless we arc ready to accept infamy ;ind ruin. 

In sucli a state of things Aviiat can be moi-e irrelevant than 
formally to set forth that avc are not aiming to subjugate 
our ?ncmies, or to emancipate their slaves! We are fighting 
for life, for national existence, and arc not called upon to say 
how far we mean to go, or what consequences shall ensue to 
oiir enemies. Such a thing was never heard of before. When 
England and Russia are engaged in war, England is not careful 
to proclaim that she does not mean to subjr.gats Russia, nor to 
emancipate her serfs, but that she Is only fighting to maintain 
the British Constitution. Nor does it enter the head of the 
C/:ar to make any analagous proehimation on his part. When 
these get at war with each other they have certain battles in 
hand which occupy tlieir whole attention. They cannot tell 
when or under what circumstances the war .shall end. Their 
pi-'jsciit \\i)i-k IS to light for the mastery. 

And still !i-ss ran it be ex])ected of a governnaent ruthlessly 
assailed by couspii-itors, traitors, and rebels, as our government 
is assailed, to uuikii apologies for taking up arms in self-defense, 
ov ill coiidiictiiig this dcfejise, to bind itself to certain measures 
and to limit itscU' to certain ends. We have no choice left to 
us. Vv'e iinisL iiglit or perish. When our hand' is lifted to 
strike for victory umst we be cautioned to beware of violating 
tlie Const itutiou '? The Constitution was not made for a state 



of rebellion, nor for the protection of rebels who have cast it 
aside. Questions about the Constitution are not now in place ; 
the only question is, How can we win the battle ? 

If the old abolitionists cry out, "you must proclaim univer- 
sal emancipation or you cannot put down the rebellion," we 
may reply, we have 600,000 men in the field, and our business 
IS to lead them to victory. If the conservatives cry out, » you 
must proclaim that you mean to adhere to the Constitution, and 
that you do not fight for subjugation or emancipation, but for 
the Union," ^ve may make the same reply. If they aver that 
unless we do so the border States will>ecomc disaffected and the 
army melt away, we may reply that our business is neither to 
discuss the principles or issues of the war, nor to make proclam- 
ations ; we have 000,000 men in the field and some hundreds of 
ships at sea, and that having some hundreds of thousands of 
rebel soldiers opposed to us, and hostile demonstrations on the 
part of foreign nations, we must first of all fight the battle for 
national existence. We need entertain no fear of disaffection, 
anywhere, if we only press on to victory. If proclamations or 
discussions could be used as war-like material, or made to dc 
the oflice of cannons or bayonets, we ouglit not to reject them ;-. 
but, as this does not appear very clearly, we have no time ta 
investigate it. We have cannons and bayonets and 600,000-- 
men on the land, and armed ships at sea, with many thousajids^ 
more; and, until we have fully tried thei]- strength and efficiency,. 
It IS wisest for us to adjourn the consideration of all other 
means. 

In the proper and energetic employment of these all parties- 
may unite without any sacrifice of principle. Let the President 
and Cabinet, and Congress, and all ofticials— let men of all par- 
ties—Democrats, Republicans, and Abolitionists, unite to sus- 
tain and give efiiciency to the army, and then we shall be mighty 
and irresistible. The discussion of political, philosophical or 
moral principles, now, has no bearing upon the work in hand. 
We are in the midst of a war which leaves us no alternative but 
brave fighting, or ignominious and fatal submission. It is trea- 
son to the great cause for political parties now to strive lor pre- 



ominencG. Whatever party may bold the Government, there 
is but one course to pursue. 

The cry, "Put the Democrats in power," or "put the Aboli- 
tionists in |)owcr, and then we shall hme success," is but the cry 
of selfish demagogues, who, like ISTero, seek only to play upon 
their own fiddles while Rome is on fire. Nobody asks or cares 
whether General McClcllan is a Democrat, a Republican, or an 
Abolitionist. We desire only to be assured that he is a great 
military commander and a true patriot. When General McClel- 
lan or his horse is sick, he may show homeopathic partialities, 
to the great scandal of medical science, in the opinion of some ; 
but when he and his horse are well, we think of him only as the 
leader of our armies. 

In times of peace, our principles, our politics, our fanaticisms, 
may jostle each other ; but, in this time of M'ar, standing as we 
do upon the fiery edge of battle, we stand shoulder to shoulder 
for the Republic. We ask not now what is your nationality ? 
what is your creed ? what is your party ? We ask only what 
is your banner — are you for the stars and stripes? We reject 
none who will fight for the stars and stripes. We are the 
brotherhood of the stars and stripes. We have no time to talk 
— come, let us fight, one and all, for the stars and stripes. Let us 
carry our banner victoriously from the upper lakes to the gulf 
of Mexico — from the Atlantic to the Pacific. This is the work 
in hand, a work largo enough to occupy all our powers, a work 
majestic and catholic enough to sink all our political differences, 
a work whose imperious necessities must melt us into one heroic 
people sworn to conquer or to die. 

Secondly, The disposition to be made of the negroes. This 
is another fruitful subject of discussion, and has elicited a variety 
of measures. 

First, fugitives to our lines were returned by our officers to 
their masters. The illegality of the military arm executing a 
civil process, and the absurdity of protecting rights to rebels, 
guaranteed by the Constitution only to loyal men, at once be- 
came apparent. 

Then the active and ingenious mind of Gen. Butler conceived 



8 

the idea of treating fugitives to our lines as a species of contra- 
band property to be lield by the rights of war. But in thi& 
there was an unavoidable fiction, for the contraband article had 
not been conveyed by a neutral or any other power beyond its- 
own voluntary disposition of itself; and after its acquisition was 
never offered for sale as a contraband. 

Then Congress passed an act confiscating slaves actually era- 
ployed in the service of the rebellion. This was followed by 
the proclamation of General Fremont confiscating uncondition- 
ally the slaves of rebels in the military department under bis 
command. Upon this the President issued an order restricting- 
the proclamation of General Fremont to the terms of the act of 
Congress. 

The instructions of the Secretary of War to General Sherman 
presented a new phase, and seemed to contemplate the employ- 
ment of fugitives in the military service. 

In the discussions of Congress, three different positions are 
taken : 

First, An act of immediate emancipation is proposed, to take 
effect, either in all the slave States, with a provision for re-im- 
bursing loyal slave-holders, or to take effect only in the rebel 
States. Secondly, It is proposed to emancipate the slaves of 
rebels by military proclamation either preceding or during inva- 
sion of the enemy's country. Thirdly, All projects of emanci- 
pation are opposed as unconstitutional, and it is proposed to 
carry on the war simply to restore the Union on the old basis, 
retaining slavery in the slave States under the original condi- 
tions and guarantees. To these has recently been added a fourth, 
presented in a bill declaring the seceded States territories, and 
slavery therein prohibited. This is a modification of the first 
position, and aims at the same time to punish rebellion by deg- 
radation, and to escape the objection that Congress has no Con- 
stitutional power to abolish slavery in the States. 

Those who advocate emancipation represent it as an impor- 
tant if not an essential war measure, as well as an act of justice, 
the obstacles to which the rebels have themselves removed. 
Those who oppose emancipation represent it as a violation of 



the Constitution ; and while professing to approve of the wat, 
insist that it shall be carried on constitutionally. 

While these discussions are going on and tlicse various meas- 
ures proposed, many negroes are actually attaining their free- 
dom in the progress of our arms. Hence a plan of colonization 
has proceeded from a high quarter, looking forward to their 
ultimate disposition. 

iSTow we bring the charge of irrelevancy against all these 
discussions and measures. Or, where not positively irrelevant, 
tliey are premature. 

The appeals currently made to the Constitution, on the sub- 
ject of slavery, are generally irrelevant. The power of Congress 
to abolish slavery in the rebel States while we still recognize 
them as States may be questioned technically. But then Con- 
gress may confiscate the slaves as well as any other property of 
•the rebels. But we shall show that both the emancipation and 
the confiscation of slaves are irrelevant. It is only in relation 
to the power of Congress to abolish slavery that there can be 
any show of relevancy in the appeals made to the Constitution. 
The Constitution, without employing the word slave or any of 
its compounds, contains only two provisions which are under- 
stood to couiprise any rights of slaveholders, and those relate 
to the basis of representation, and to the rendition of fugitives. 
But the rebel States have voluntarily abolished all representation 
in the Federal Congress ; and they cannot claim the rendition 
of fugitives under a Constitution which they have yenounced, 
and from the States upon whom they have made war. 

The assertion so often made that "the war must be carried on 
Constitutionally," is not only irrelevant, but does not admit 
even of any clear interpretation, when applied to the subject of 
slavery. The Constitution confers the power to make war and 
peace ; to raise armies and navies, and to provide for their sup- 
port ; and designates the Commander-in-Chief To make and 
carry on war constitutionally is to conform to the provisions of 
the Constitution relating to peace and war. Now the Consti- 
tution imposes no peculiar obligation and restrictions with re- 
spect to the treatment of enemies in general, but leaves v.s to 



10 

the i^resumption that wc are to be governed by the laws and 
usages recognized and appealed to by all civilized nations. But 
as these laws and usages relate to acknowledged nationalities, 
there is far less restraint in the treatment of treason and rebel- 
lion. Since then the Constitution has made no provision as to 
the mode of carrying on a war like the one in which we are 
engaged, and its provisions with regard to representation in 
Congress and the rendition of fugitives have no application to 
the present state of affairs, the demand that the war shall be 
carried on " constitutionally " is at least irrelevant, and is really 
unintelligible. We are certainly secure from all reproach if we 
carry on this war according to the laws of nations, and the 
acknowledged rights and usages of war. 

Suppose the seceded States had become a nation with their 
institution of slavery, and vrere at war with England or any 
other power, would it be obligatory upon the foreign belliger- 
ent to recognize this institution and to refrain from trespassing 
upon the relations of master and slave ? England or France 
would not retui-n fugitives, Avould not protect the masters in 
their rights, would not sell as property slave captives taken in 
war ; and if masses of the slave population came over to the 
invaders as friends and allies, the invaders would treat them 
like the population of any other invaded country, under the same 
circumstances. Their color and their former condition would 
not be taken into consideration. The invaders would simply 
ignore the institution of slavery. 

Now this is precisely the policy we are to pursue. To treat 
them as conti-aband articles forfeited by the rights of war ; to 
confiscate them in common with houses and lands, horses and 
sheep and oxen, is to acknowledge that they are chattels. To 
emancipate them is to acknowledge that they are slaves. We 
acknowdedged them as such, while the States which hold them 
acknowledged the Constitution of the United States as the 
supreme law of the land. But when the slave States threw off 
the Constitution of the United States and established a rebellious 
Confederacy, they absolved us from our obligations. 

The same necessity which now compels us to regard them as 



11 

disloyal and as enemies, compels us to regard the State Con sti- 
tutions which recognize slavery as null and void. Separate from 
the Constitution of the United States, we cannot recognize these 
State Constitutions. The negroes of the seceded States are no 
more slaves to us than are the captives of the King of Dahomey. 

Our policy in regard to slavery is not to discuss it, not to leg- 
islate ahout'.it, to pass no act of confiscation, to issue no proc- 
Jaraations of emancipation, to propound no plans of colonization 
but simply to ignore it. ' 

Om- grej^ work in band is to press on this war to its conclu- 
sion with the utmost might and vigor. When we meet the 
enemy in tl\e -field, we are to raahe no investigation as to his 
color or condition. White or black, bond or free, rich or poor, 
are all alike to us ; if he have cannons and rifles we must fight 
him as one mass ; and all whom we capture are prisoners of war 
alike. 

If on invading the enemy's country, the population or any 
part thereof come over to our side, and declare for tbq glorious 
styipes and stars, we are to receive them as friends and allies, 
whatever may be their color, whatever may have been their 
former condition. Neither the Constitution of the United 
States, the laws of nations, the usages of war, the dictates of 
humanity nor a wise policy demands any other course. Xay, it 
is a necessary policy — it is sheer common sense. 

All our di^culties^arise from discussing opinions and institu- 
tions existing in the enemy's country, and attempting to frame 
a policy to m^ft them, when our proper business is to fight so 
that we may win. Victory solves a thousand problems in a 
moment, while speculation is stumbling among the dark moun- 
tains of fear and uncertainty. 

When we have re-couqucrcd territories violently wrested 
from us, when we have prostrated the rebellious and thrown 
our protectioa around the loyal, then will arise the question. 
Upon what basis shall the Union be restored, and what meas- 
ures shall be adopted for the future and permanent security of 
*he RepubHc.. We will wait for the harvest time, to gather the 



IS 

fruits of our present labors and sacrifices. Now is the time for 
labors and sacrifices only. 

TVe are managing the ship of state in the mids^of a stormy 
and perilous sea. We are placed, some at the helm to steer, 
some at the bow to look out, some along the deck to manage 
the sails, some at the pumps to control tlie leak. "Let every 
man do his duty. We have but one thing in view nt)w ; no one 
can mistake it ; that one thing involves all that ^ 4^ar to us in 
life, and is of such awful moment, of such urgent necessity that 
we cannot pause to deliberate, much less to indulge' in words — 
we can think and speak only in action. Forget evera'thing else, 
and save the ship. 

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